Fiscal Fast Y'all!

Um, not sure what's going on here, but we had fun?!

Okay, so it is August 11th and we are officially 1/3 of the way through our month-long fiscal fast.  Loyal readers (so like 3 of you) of this blog may know that this is the 5th year running for my No-Spend Month.  I really love it guys!  For a variety of reasons.  Let me explain.

So, essentially the idea is to not spend any money during the entire month of August.  Okay, so for us the FIRST year, we literally spent nothing on anything.  At the time we were doing the Dave Ramsey Envelope System and so we had enough cash from the previous month to pay for our gas the entire month of August.  It was great, but the envelope system doesn't really fit our life anymore.

We still pay the bills as usual every month, as much as I'd love to NOT.  However, I also like taking indoor showers and sleeping with a fan on, so you know...gotta keep the e-lec-trickery on.

Over the last 5 years, certain modifications have been made, but overall it is essentially the same.  We now grow a garden and I can and freeze and bake and freeze leading up to this month.  Not a lot mind you, but enough to get by with some quickie meals.  I made 45 bierocks a week ago and that is our go-to no thawed meat, no ideas, no energy meal.

Bierocks hot out of the oven.  YUM!

We also purchased a pork and beef bundle from the local meat locker because we were completely out of everything in our deep freeze.  We also got a few things from the store to have on hand.

The big modification this year:  since we actually have the kids for half of August, we needed lunches for them.  So I made a concession to my husband (rarity!) and we now buy just lunch stuff on Sunday before the next week.  Still reducing our spending by a LOT but not having to stock up on lunchmeat or me having to worry about enough stuff for them to eat.

So now we live off whatever we have in our home.  Nothing extra.  One tip is almond milk.  Buy at least 2 containers.  They last more than a month and you can essentially use it anywhere you would use regular milk with the added bonus of being good for you!  I use it for biscuits and gravy all the time.  I don't even notice the difference, to be honest.

Okay, so here we are, 1/3 of the way through.  How are we doing?  Well...we are already almost out of cheese, but we have plenty of eggs!  The bierocks are holding up.  We've only eaten about 25% of those.  I made a poor man's meal tonight and cleaned out part of the fridge.  The most dire circumstance though is that I don't have any minced onions on hand and I'm down to my last 1 1/2 onions.  Seriously.  No bueno.  I can't believe I forgot minced onions!

On to the biggest benefits!  You eat REAL FOOD every night!  If you do as we have done the 4 years prior to this, you NEVER go to the grocery store...ever.  For an ENTIRE month.  *YASSS*  You get creative!  You learn what spices and flavors go together.  You make do.  You utilize, save, repurpose.  I have never found another thing that has helped me think about what I am using and my waste better than a fiscal fast.  Period.  You realize the jam that's been in your refrigerator door for months can be used in pan sauces, salad dressings, marinades!  Probably my favorite thing is that we find creative ways to have fun on the cheap.  Last night we visited a sunflower patch (hence the top pic) and took pictures.  There's free stuff downtown tomorrow and I want to make everyone come with me inside the Capitol building.

Fiscal Fast.  10/10 would do again.

If you've done this or a modified version, tell me your favorite part of it in the comments!